A Soldiers Sacrifice

I thought the Soldiers Sacrifice video was superb and informing with many good points. The people that worked on it did a spectacular job interviewing and acquiring videos of what is going on in Iraq. I especially liked how they focused on lieutenant Watada and his fight to get an honorable discharge. He is the first soldier in United States to refuse to go into a war he does not support. I in fact, did not know about Watada’s case until I saw the video, which showed how intense this case has been. Only recently did Obama pardon Watada, but he still has not gotten an honorable discharge from the US Army.
Don’t get me wrong I totally enjoyed the movie but, I do wish they talked a little more about some of the reasons why it sticks to be a US soldier in Iraq right now. My Cousin was in Iraq not too long ago and he said “it did not feel right to go into Iraq as liberators and come back as so called persecutors.” He talked about how the people had wanted the US military out a long time ago and that the tensions between the Iraqis and the US have grown. He said the worst part about being in Iraq was trying to tell friend from foe, which the film did show in one scenes. Overall I think the film was important in its message of “why we are waging this war” and I feel this is something our generation should take notice for the future.

Protest and politics before the Modern Era

I have recently been reading a book that I find very interesting called The Saint and the Sultan by Paul Moses. It is about St. Francis and his visit with Sultan al-Kamil during the Fifth Crusade. What I find most interesting about the book is that it portrays the untold story of how St. Francis was an influential counter-cultural antiwar advocate of his time. We usually don’t think about there being counter-cultural protesters during the Middle Ages and especially Saints. But, St. Francis was major opponent towards the main ideology of the time. He condoned war and all acts violence during a time when war was highly supported by the main ideology. He even went against the call for the Fifth Crusade, in 1217, to invade Egypt. Francis did not agree with the popular crusades propaganda that it was okay to treat the Muslims as less than human. Francis believed that all peoples were equal in Gods eye, including Muslims, and he was heavily criticized for his belief. In 1219 he met with Sultan al-Kamil of the Saracen Empire and tried to convert him, when the Fifth crusades were still active. He failed but, al-Kamil was impressed by Francis bold attempt, while the European Kings and even some Church leaders found his attempt repulsive.

Amerville

The Amerville play was fantastic a truly will put together performance and fun to watch. It had a very talented cast that could set the mood of a scene from funny to startlingly serious. Even thought the play was full of hilarious scenes, such as the drunken Jean Lafitte and the Fire Arms Salesman, the play had a message that was very grave. A message that stated that even in the United States (the country of freedom) there are still many freedoms of the people that have been spoiled and we the people can make the country a better place. The play referred several times to the post Katrina situations that have been ignored for so long. People are still living in recovery mobile homes and the levies still have not been fixed. The play also sung songs about the hate and violence in the world and how blatantly stupid it is in actuality. For instance, the play described how the Jews (Israelis) and Arabs hate each other when in actuality they are very similar to each other (Like cousins as the actor said in the play). The play’s message in the end was magnetic in that the lyrics stated that these grave situations are not all FEMA’s or the government’s problem to solve they are our responsibility. It is us the normal citizens of the United States who should not be ignoring the real world as we sit in our homes watching survivor (a show that does not teach you how to survive) . We should be the ones making an effort to help make this country and the world a better place.